Welcome, from the Associate Dean of GME

Dear Prospective Residents and Fellows,

Welcome!  As a former UCSF medical student, resident and now the Associate Dean for Graduate Medical Education (GME) and the Designated Institutional Official for UCSF, I am honored to extend my warmest greetings to prospective residents and fellows considering UCSF as the next step in your professional journey.

Here at UCSF, we hold ourselves to the highest ideals: to advance health worldwide, to generate discovery, and to serve our communities with compassion, equity, and integrity. In our residency and fellowship training programs, we strive to bring these ideals to life through a culture of excellence, respect, collaboration, and inclusive belonging.

Why UCSF?
Choosing a residency or fellowship is a deeply consequential decision — one that will shape not only your clinical and scholarly trajectory, but also who you become as a physician, investigator, and leader. At UCSF:

• You will train at the frontier of medicine, embedded in a vibrant academic health system that blends cutting‑edge research with outstanding patient care.
• You will be supported by faculty mentors who care deeply about your growth, well‑being, and success — as clinicians, scientists, educators, and leaders.
• You will join a community of learners, staff, and faculty who bring a wide array of backgrounds, perspectives, and lived experiences — and who work together to foster a culture of belonging.
• You will have access to resources, innovation, and infrastructure that enable you to pursue your passions — whether in clinical excellence, translational science, population health, medical education, global health, health equity, or leadership.
• You will be part of a network of alumni, institutional partnerships, and community collaborations that extend far beyond San Francisco and enable impact at local, national, and global scales.

Our Commitments to You
We recognize that training in residency and fellowship is both exhilarating and demanding. Thus:

• We commit to a supportive training environment — one that respects individuals and nurtures wellness.
• We commit to a learning environment that promotes opportunities for all—seeking to create an inclusive environment where all trainees feel valued, respected, and empowered to bring their full selves.
• We commit to innovation in education — continuously refining our curricula, assessment, and mentorship approaches so that they remain responsive to evolving clinical, scientific, and societal challenges.
• We commit to fostering leadership — equipping you with the skills, confidence, and opportunity to shape the future of medical practice, policy, and health systems.

What We Aspire to Together
Your decision to train here is not just about what you will learn — it is also about what you will contribute. We believe that each resident and fellow brings unique gifts, perspectives, and energy. We invite you to be a partner with us in shaping UCSF’s future: through inquiry, service, collaboration, and innovation.  We invite you to explore our website to learn more about our residency and fellowship training programs, the variety of resources available to our residents/fellows and life in San Francisco.

We are excited by the possibility of welcoming you to our community — to work beside you, support you, challenge you, and celebrate with you. If you choose UCSF, we will strive to ensure your training is transformative, fulfilling, and deeply aligned with the highest calling of medicine.

Thank you for considering UCSF! 

Katherine Julian, MD

Associate Dean for Graduate Medical Education

Designated Institutional Official
UCSF School of Medicine